Frances “Sissy” Tarlton Farenthold was born on October 2, 1926, in Corpus Christi,
Texas. Her father B. Dudley Tarlton, Jr., an attorney, was the son of Judge Benjamin
D. Tarlton, Sr., Chief Justice of the Texas Court of Civil Appeals, state
legislator, professor at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) School of Law, and
namesake of the UT Tarlton Law Library. Farenthold graduated from Vassar College in
1946 and the UT Law School in 1949. She began her career in politics in 1960,
campaigning for John F. Kennedy as president and serving on the Corpus Christi City
Council’s human relations commission until 1965. After serving two years as director
of the Nueces County Legal Aid Program, Democrat Farenthold was elected as
representative for Nueces and Kleberg counties in the Texas Legislature (1968-1972).
She also ran twice for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against Dolph Briscoe
(1972; 1974) and became the first serious, and third ever, female nominee to be the
Democratic candidate for the U.S. vice presidency, placing second out of seven.

During her tenure as a state legislator, Farenthold promoted civil and women’s
rights, co-sponsoring the Equal Legal Rights Amendment with State Senator Barbara
Jordan, and supported environmental protection for beaches, bays, estuaries, and
Mustang Island. When opposing Governor Preston Smith’s efforts to expel people
registering Mexican Americans to vote in Del Rio, she marched in support of the
registration on Palm Sunday in March 1969. With the emergence of the Sharpstown
stock fraud scandal, in which Houston banker Frank Sharp was accused of bribing
lawmakers in 1971, Farenthold joined other representatives, named by their
opposition as the “Dirty Thirty.” The group proposed a resolution for an
investigation into the roles played by Texas House Speaker Gus Mutscher and other
legislators in the scandal and into the history of the bills Sharp was accused of
promoting through bribery. Although the bill did not succeed and redistricting
eliminated Farenthold’s district, Mutscher was found guilty of his involvement in
the scandal, and Gov. Smith’s and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes’ political careers were
essentially ended by the scandal.

After leaving politics, Farenthold continued to support humanitarian causes,
including peace activism and opposition to the Vietnam War and the nuclear
disarmament and the nuclear waste disposal movements. She also served as a human
rights observer in Iraq, El Salvador, Honduras, South Korea, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
Cuba, and the former U.S.S.R.

After teaching law at Texas Southern University, Farenthold served as the first
female president of Wells College in Aurora, New York (1976-1980). With numerous
national female political figures in 1971, she co-founded the National Women’s
Political Caucus, an organization dedicated to increasing women’s participation in
government and achieving equality for women, which elected Farenthold as its first
national chair in 1973. Five years later, she established the Public Leadership
Education Network to support an increased representation of women in government
through educational programs for female college students interested in careers in
public policy. Upon her return to Texas in 1980, Farenthold opened a law firm and
began teaching law at the University of Houston.

In 1950, Farenthold married George Farenthold, and before divorcing in 1985, the
couple had five children, including Dudley (b. 1951), George, Jr. (b. 1952), Emilie
(b. 1954), and twins Vincent Bluntzer Tarlton (1956-1960) and James Robert Dougherty
“Jimmy” (1956-1989?).

Sources:

Frances Tarlton Farenthold Papers, 1913-2016, Dolph Briscoe Center for American
History, University of Texas at Austin.

The Frances Tarlton Farenthold Papers, 1913-2015, consist of legal, political, and
personal correspondence; legal, political, legislative, subject, and committee
files; newsletters, reports, and bulletins; research material; newspaper clippings;
maps; videocassettes, audiotapes, and CDs; and photographs arranged alphabetically
by subject. The papers document Farenthold’s support of women’s rights and women’s
increased involvement in politics; activism in the nuclear disarmament and peace
movements; promotion of civil and prisoners’ rights; international relations in
China, the U.S.S.R., South Africa, and other countries; as well as education,
health, militarization, and other social and political issues in developing
countries. The materials from her political career concern her tenure as Texas state
legislator in the 61st and 62nd legislative sessions, participation in the “Dirty
Thirty” and reform of political corruption, membership on legislative committees,
her campaigns for governor against Dolph Briscoe, and nomination to be the
Democratic candidate for the U.S. vice presidency. Also documented are her beliefs
on such issues as abortion and women’s rights, conservation efforts and
environmental protection, agriculture, treasure troves and artifact salvage off the
Gulf Coast, children’s safety and public welfare, housing and educational
improvement. Legal materials pertain to cases and clients Farenthold represented and
include legal documents, depositions, affidavits, statements, correspondence, lists,
summaries, and notes.

Furthermore, the papers document Farenthold’s association with human rights
organizations and issues in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and South
Korea from the 1970s onwards. The collection also relates to her presidency of Wells
College, membership on the board of trustees of Vassar College, the Coordinating
Board of the Texas College and University System, and the Institute for Policy
Studies, her tenure as professor of law at Texas Southern University and the
University of Houston, and her connection with the Texas Air Control Board, Texas
Water Quality Board, and American Civil Liberties Union. A large quantity of
correspondence, drafts, notes, research materials, programs, and travel schedules,
relate to Farenthold's speaking engagements at the Women’s Institute for Life
Studies, Helsinki Watch, International Peace Festival, Austin City Council, and
other organizations and conferences. Additionally, a portion of the papers concerns
the financial and legal affairs and activities of her cousin, Genevieve Vaughan.